Section 6A. There shall be established an intern scholarship program which shall be administered by the commissioner. The commissioner, subject to appropriation and grants from other sources, may grant scholarships providing for the payment of room, board, tuition and other fees to any person who is eligible to attend an accredited college or university and who enrolls at such college or university in a course of study leading to a degree in the field of animal health, satisfactory to the commissioner. In no event shall any student receive such scholarship aid for more than four years.

To be eligible for such scholarship a person shall (1) be a citizen of the United States and a resident of the commonwealth; (2) be a high school graduate or have an equivalent education; (3) have been accepted for admission as a regular student in an accredited college or university approved by the commissioner to pursue a course of instruction satisfactory to the commissioner; (4) contract, with the consent of his parent or legal guardian if he is a minor, with the commissioner or his designated representative, to serve with the department for a period of three years following his graduation, and to serve with the department during the regular periods of summer vacation while attending such college or university except for such vacation periods as the commissioner may establish by regulation; provided, however, that the department shall not be liable to pay wages to said student during said vacation periods.

Service rendered to the department by a recipient of such a scholarship during the three year period following his graduation, and during the regular periods of summer vacation, and such other vacation periods as the commissioner may determine, shall not be subject to the provisions of chapter thirty-one.

The commissioner may, subject to available appropriations and grants from other sources, establish within the department a scholarship program of graduate study for eligible persons wishing to attend any accredited graduate program at a college or university satisfactory to the commissioner.

The scholarship awards or aid granted by the commissioner under this section shall be on a competitive basis.

The commissioner may adopt such rules and regulations as he deems necessary to carry out the programs authorized by this section.

Any money expended under authority of this section shall be paid from the Agricultural Purposes Fund.